Scots to lose out on £42m in lifeline energy bills crisis help

But there are concerns that at some 100,000 of the most disadvantaged in the country have lost out through the Energy Bills Support Scheme (EBSS) - because the money did not reach them.

Anti-poverty campaigners are fearing the worst, as the vouchers expire on Friday, June 30 and believe not enough is being done to ensure people are getting what they are entitled to.

New analysis has raised concerns that Scotland is being hit hardest across the UK by the energy support fails.

READ MORE: Energy bill 'rip off' concerns as Scots fuel poverty soars by 40%

Based on figures for the full six months of the scheme, seen by the Herald, one in four energy vouchers issued for those with pre-payment meters have not been cashed in. Across the UK it is at nearly one in seven.

The UK Parliamentary constituency areas which registered the biggest Scottish losers are in Glasgow Central where some 38.46% of the vouchers issued were not redeemed, followed by Edinburgh East (36.52%), Edinburgh North and Leith (36.03%), Glasgow North (35.53%), Inverclyde (35.2%), Edinburgh South West (33.98%), Glasgow South (33.32%), Renfrewshire South (31.87%) and Edinburgh South (31.12%).

The biggest redemption successes were in Ross, Skye and Lochaber, where 14.57% of vouchers were unredeemed followed by Sutherland and Easter Ross (14.93%), Dundee East (15.34%), Badenoch and Strathspey (15.34%) and Orkney and Shetland (15.41%).

Some 12.216m vouchers were issued in Scotland over the six months of the Government’s energy bill support scheme - but some 439,040 have not been redeemed.

And nearly 190,000 further payments had not been delivered by energy firms to customers either automatically or through smart meters.

End Fuel Poverty Coalition which has been tracking the payments said not enough was being done to track those that need the payments and that there had to be a delay to the end of the scheme, to ensure people that need the money get it.

"The scheme is failing those who need it most," said Simon Francis, coordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition. You would think that systems would be in place to ensure that people get the help that they deserve.

"As of now, I do not think that there is any alternative but to extend the validity of these vouchers for at least a month. Otherwise this money is going to be lost to households."

Most of the homes in England, Scotland and Wales pay their energy bill by direct debit and have been getting about £66 a month deducted from their bills or credited to their account automatically.

But the system has been more complex for the 500,000 Scots households that have a traditional pre-payment meter for their gas or electricity and who receive support through vouchers in the post or via email.

The vouchers then need to be taken to a local PayPoint store or a Post Office to be credited onto a meter.

Many households with traditional pre-payment meters are considered among the most vulnerable. Customers pay for their energy in advance, either through an account or using a top-up card and in many cases these meters have often been fitted when people have a history of missing bill payments.

Last summer of the half million Scots customers on prepayment meters, some 203,484 were on smart meters and 294,459 are traditional meters.

Analysis by the coalition further reveals that some 189,380 of what the coaliton says should have been automated payments failed register and were classed as "undelivered."

"How can they not know who their customers are," said Mr Francis.

The analysis shows that in some areas of Scotland more than 1 in 17 EBSS payments have either not been delivered - automatically or otherwise - or not had vouchers redeemed.

The area with the highest loss is Glasgow Central where 5.8% of payments have not been delivered or redeemed worth nearly £1.4m.

In Glasgow North East and Paisley and Renfrewshire South where 5.59% of payments are missing, the total value of the loss is £1.12m each.

Those with traditional prepayment meters receive vouchers via text message, email or post by the 11th day of each month, according to industry regulator Ofgem.

All vouchers expire 90 days after issue, after which point they will need to be re-sent. For example, January's vouchers would have expired earlier in April.

Outstanding vouchers can be redeemed at customers' local Post Office or PayPoint.

EBSS was delivered on top of the energy price guarantee, as a temporary additional measure brought in by government to protect consumers from significant increases in wholesale gas prices.

The guarantee cut the amount people are charged per unit of gas or electricity, to an annual equivalent of around £2,500 for a typical household using gas and electricity in Great Britain.

The guarantee will be replaced from July by the return of the energy price cap, which is set every three months by Ofgem.

A typical UK household will pay £2,074 a year on its dual fuel bill - but that is almost double what was being paid just three years ago.

According to Scottish Government modelling estimates, from October 2022, there were around 860,000 households in fuel poverty in Scotland - around 35% of homes.

That is 247,000 more than in 2019 when the last Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS) showed 613,000 households were in fuel poverty - around 25% of homes.

Fuel poverty relates to households that must spend a high proportion of their household income to keep their home at a reasonable temperature. It is affected by three key factors - a household’s income, their fuel costs, and their energy consumption, which in turn is affected by the energy efficiency of the home.

It is defined in Scotland, that after housing costs, the total fuel costs needed to maintain a satisfactory heating regime are more than 10% of the household’s total taxable income.

An Energy UK spokesman said: “In the face of record prices, the Government’s Energy Bill Support Scheme has helped to reduce everyone’s energy bills and suppliers worked incredibly quickly to implement the scheme in time. Delivery rates have been high and the latest Government figures show that redemption rates are already close to existing schemes like the Warm Homes Discount and state benefits. However that still means there are customers in need of this money who haven’t yet claimed.

“Energy companies have put huge amounts of time and resource into trying to reach these customers and make it as easy as possible for them to claim, including visiting homes, reminding prepayment customers whenever they get in contact for whatever reason and implementing new ways for people to get in touch. They have also used data-led approaches to issue regular reminders through multiple channels – including emails, text messages and postcards in case people are avoiding opening their mail.”